The Islamic State's Improvised Sam

The Islamic State is apparently trying to make a SAM system using an R-13 air-to-air missile

If the militant group can overcome the technical challenges, the resulting system would still not be a significant threat to coalition aircraft or civilian airliners

Sky News stoked new fears about aviation security on 5 January, when it broadcast footage showing Islamic State militants apparently attempting to turn an air-to-air missile into a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system.

Sky said it obtained the footage from Syrian rebels who found it on an Islamic State trainer they captured as he attempted to reach Turkey. It claimed the footage showed how Islamic State weapons experts working at the "jihadi university" in the Syrian city of Al-Raqqah had worked out how to "recommission thousands of missiles assumed by Western governments to have been redundant through old age" by manufacturing new thermal batteries.

While a complete missile did not feature in the footage, the guidance section of what appeared to be an AIM-9 Sidewinder was seen. Cyrillic writing on one of its control surfaces suggested it was an R-13 (AA-2 'Atoll'): the Soviet copy of the short-range infrared-guided Sidewinder. It was most likely an R-13M variant captured at one of the Syrian air force bases overrun by rebel forces in recent years.

The Sidewinder missile's thermal battery would be extremely difficult to change as it is an integral part of the target detection device (proximity sensor system). The R-13 is probably similar.

Some of the footage showed the missile's guidance section fitted to the hardpoint adaptor used to launch it from an aircraft. This provides the missile with electrical power and compressed gas to cool its seeker before it is launched. It also provides an interface between the missile and the aircraft's fire control system, allowing the pilot to activate the weapon and informing him when its infrared seeker has locked on to a target, facilitating a launch.

Eradicated! That's a much bigger step than what "Janes" report stated in the thread. Don't you say?

Lets just concentrate on the report and see if there is any credibility in the report. In order to target foot soldiers one requires low level flying, for that Heli's are the best. But I read in the news that 2 Ruski Mi-8 transporters have been shot down. No indication if these Mi-8's were coming back from a successful operations or were sent to test this theory of ISIS acquiring low level threat suppression.

In a Guerilla warfare Helli's reign supreme. If you could supress this with a low level SAM system you effectively supress the threat to your attack.

In Janes report we can clearly see that they have indicated that ISIS have converted "sidewinders" for this purpose and this is worthy of a debate, as one requires a credible track&target capability, for that one requires a radar. Most probably these "sidewinders" are western developed and all they need is data to track and travel to the target, the rest they will do themselves. I don't think thermal batteries and what not are the major obstacle ISIS would face to get these missile to do what they are meant to unless of course Janes thinks that ISIS is as dumb as a monkey in the tree!